With 133 Nm of torque at 2150rpm, the Dieselfighter will stretch your arms

The AVL engine design is based on AVL know-how from development results and measurement data of state of the art HSDI (High Speed Direct Injection) diesel engines. The packaging of the engine in the vehicle is shown using rapid prototype parts.

AVL's triple - Since a three cylinder engine is free of 1st and 2nd order forces of inertia only the rotating component was balanced on the crankshaft. Additionally the usual balancing of 1st order moments of inertia by a balancer shaft (split in two part

The projected curb weight for the
AVL machine is 240 kg, 35kg more than the ThunderStar

The Dieselfighter uses a 1570cc engine from a Volkswagen Golf (in the background)

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Article Summary

July 18, 2005 Our recent articles on The coming of the electric motorcycle and the Electric superbike brought a flurry of response from our readers pointing out that the diesel motorcycle was a far more viable alternative to the petrol-engined motorcycle than the electric bike at this point in time. indeed, our readers were quick to point to a number of prototype diesel sports motorcycles that look awesomely promising: bikes such as the Neander 1400 turbodiesel, the TrackDiesel One Litre TurbuDiesel, the Dieselfighter, the AVL Boost and the Dutch ThunderStar 1200 TDI diesel motorcycle - all of them motorcycles of immense potential and all of them readying themselves for market. In this the first of a series of articles on diesel motorcycles, we take a close look at the ThunderStar 1200 TDI - a sports motorcycle with a stronger midrange than Triumph's 2.3 litre Rocket III.